CISF to guard vicinity of airports too

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), deployed for security and anti-hijack operations at 56 airports, will now also protect areas immediately outside (‘city side’) some sensitive and hypersensitive airports.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), deployed for security and anti-hijack operations at 56 airports, will now also protect areas immediately outside (‘city side’) some sensitive and hypersensitive airports.

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The decision was taken in view of increasing terrorist threat to airports and intelligence reports that terrorists could attack some airports in the run-up to 2010 Common-wealth Games.

The home ministry will deploy about 1,200 CISF personnel outside the airports — a job done by the police till now. The airports could include Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Varanasi (hypersensitive), and Goa, Lucknow, Mangalore and Nagpur (sensitive). Mumbai could also be one of them.

“The ministry took the decision after a meeting of officers from the home and civil aviation ministries, and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security,” said a security officer.

The CISF already protects the city side at the Delhi airport.